Vol 2 Chapter 2.1 (2/2)
“Aw, man. How long are we going to be trapped in here?” Sergeant Aroha continued to whine, playing a game on her PDA in front of the television.
“Isn’t it bearable when you’re playing a game?”
“No way, playing games on a vacation? Who am I, Pencolt? You’re supposed to do this at any other time, not now.”
“Pencolt, huh.” I sighed, thinking of my roommate. The war in the Oden system worsened over time, and with the draft call, the entire squad’s vacation days expired.
We used a civilian network to explain our situation to the online drafting office. We weren’t going anywhere anytime soon with the coup happening.
“Ugh. What am I gonna do now?” Ensign Meihowa changed the channel repeatedly in annoyance.
Then, one of the channels caught our eyes. On the screen was a man, wearing a very unfitting tuxedo, makeup done very obviously by a team of makeup artists, and a very fake wig-- William Mayer, himself.
[Here we have the head of Ma.n.u.s Solidum, Professor William Mayer.]
After the reporter’s introduction, Mayer proudly strutted forward and stood in front of the camera. He had the getup of a cheap comedian, but he looked like he was ready to take on the world. People usually get embarra.s.sed showing their face on camera for the first time, but that guy was clearly enjoying it. [h.e.l.lo, citizens of the world! I am the Head of Autonomous Planets’ Ma.n.u.s Solidum, Professor William Mayer.]
[Wasn’t Ma.n.u.s Solidum famous for representing the oppressed male citizens? We had many stories about how the Federation government confronted you numerous times for your anti-Federation statements. What do you think about the latest developments with the rebellion?]
I had to admit, it was courageous for him to ask that in the middle of the coup in question. Or maybe that was just the culture on Critik.
Mayer scoffed before answering and brushed his long, flowy hair back. That’s a wig, right?!
[Hah! We’re only returning to the natural, original way that this government should have worked. Our current government was too busy being a mere colony to the Federation, giving them countless resources and manpower for nothing in return.]
[However, our government under President Cole had been seeing positive net gains in the last four years, and our unemployment rate had been reducing by two percent every year, down to twelve percent from twenty percent. Many seem to disagree with the rebels arresting President Amanda Cole. What do you think about that?]
The reporter’s question was on the spot. The problem wasn’t just that the rebellion was aimed at overthrowing a government that was established through democracy-- The current leader of Critik was Amanda Cole, a brilliant woman, praised for getting things done. Critik was developing very rapidly under her direction, and then this rebellion occurred.
[The mistake made now by the ma.s.ses is being blinded by the current state of the economy and not seeing the future. Throughout history, there have always been problems when using resources from the future to improve the present. An example we all know is ‘futures contract’, a market based on trading now based on values of the future. Dealing with present worths based on predicted interest and inflation rates, you can create an illusion of a booming economy. But when that future comes, trades occur through the non-negotiable values of the past. Trading like this can and will stimy the growth of economy. It is a tragic, destructive loop, having to pull the economy of the future into the present to make up for the present economy belonging to the past! As such, Cole’s government is blinding you all, degrading the future to make the present appeal to you.]
[So, what are you talking about in specific?]
[Single women, of course!]
[What?!]
We were just as shocked as the reporter. After all that dramatic discourse, what’s this about single women?!
[The Federation had been stealing women from our free, autonomous planets to control the population growth. In return, they gave away paltry bonds to migrators so that the autonomous governments maintain economic stability for the moment. Also, the money sent by migrated families to families still on Critik had been the primary source of currency for autonomous planets.]
[That is expected, yes, but is Critik not already earning more than enough money from the mining business?]
[Yeah! That’s exactly the problem! The Federation is full of lower-cla.s.s citizens who pillage young, single women from autonomous planets and turn the lives of men of autonomous planets into living h.e.l.l! Can you not see?! Have you not seen the Federation men around these tourist areas? Who else would get to go on vacations with multiple women accompanying them?!]
The discussion was no more. Whether they had a simple discussion or argument, broadcasts on autonomous planets did not seem to have anyone with a sane mind. And yet, as Mayer finished up his absurd speech, I could faintly hear agreeing shouts and hollers from around the city.
What is this? Throw away logic to capture people’s hearts? Is this what people mean when they say something is “so ridiculous, it’s actually convincing”? I was thoroughly impressed by how willing he was to… break.
[I don’t give a d.a.m.n about shame! Getting a job isn’t the end-all! The Federation only gave migration benefits to women, so men like us have no future! Just look at our horrible gender ratio! The Federation is not our ally! If it is truly our ally, then it would not ruin the planet and try to train us like animals! Have you imagined what would happen in twenty years with this gender ratio? We’d be slaves of the Federation by then! How can we stand for this?!]
[But…]
The reporter began trying to argue, but it was too late. The screen blacked out and only the audio was left. It seemed that the broadcast only appeared to be a discussion between two people, when they were only interested in Mayer’s message. Thus, only Mayer’s objective was worthy to the rebellion.
Was he a puppet used by the rebels? Or was that actually the reason for the rebellion?
“Whoa, what was that? What a clown!” Aroha clapped.
“I’m amazed that someone can be that much of an idiot.” Meihowa joined her for clapping.
We were all very amazed by Mayer’s straightforwardness and idiocy.
Instead of clapping like the others, I opened up my PDA. I personally knew little about Ma.n.u.s Solidum, but browsing around in certain Internet communities produced handy summaries. At the same time, the forums exploded with praises and curses at Mayer.
[Wow, how could he do that on camera? What a creep!]
[Yeah, but wasn’t he pretty bold? There probably hasn’t been a crazier guy on camera!]
[Everyone already knows that the Federation treats autonomous planets like doormats.]
[It’s over if all the autonomous planets side with the Alliance! What of the humanity?!]
[What are you saying?! Transhumanity is still humanity!]
[Are you all crazy? Are you okay that the pure human blood is being tainted with filthy alien blood?]
[Oh boy, here we go again.]
[How many aliens have you slept with after white-knighting for them? What’s the point of defending them?]
[Asa! Asa! Asa! Asa!]
[Elcro a best!]
[pls, im talkin about asa traps]
[A h.o.m.o?!]
There were also predictions about the Federation’s plan.
[The Federation won’t leave this alone for sure.]
[If they leave Critik alone, then they’d be giving the green light for other autonomous governments to separate, so they have to stop them with full force.]
[But Critik is a tourist attraction. There are at least a million Federation citizens in the area, so they won’t try to destroy the planet, right?]
[If they let the rebels kill them off, wouldn’t it look nice to the Federation?]
[No way! The rebels won’t dare to do that in the first place!]
[Is it true that the Federation has a powerful telepathic psionic who’s controlling them from behind?]
[If there was one, then they would have stopped the rebellion in the first place!]
And then, a new post rose to the top of the page and into my attention. It was rapidly gaining upvotes from its readers. A little too rapidly, in fact--if it wasn’t actually liked by that many people, it must have been the Federation rigging it.
[Hey, I saw something interesting on the Federation broadcast.]
[That’s insane! Are they trying to kill innocent civilians?!]
I quickly turned my attention to the Federation news network.
[A rebellion has begun in the Critik system. We discovered that their leader is Lieutenant Colonel Islamov Kasik. He is currently holding over a million tourists hostage, and they are demanding the separation of Critik from the Federation and the joining of the Alliance.] A young lady reporter with golden, braided hair summarized the events on Critik.
An extremely circular, middle-aged man replied with exaggerated movements. [Isn’t it too soon to side with the Alliance, even with their recent displays of their strength?]
[Yes, it is quite an unexpected development. Is Critik not famous for its entertainment industry? Why would they start a rebellion there?]
[I suspect that it is because of Lieutenant Colonel Kasik’s personal reasons, along with the interests of a local, unpopular protester group. Kasik has not yet married despite his age, and he hardly has any experience with the opposite gender!]
[Aha, I see.]
I became annoyed at how the other reporter was willing to accept the man’s explanation. Was it normal for people to start violent uprisings if they’re single and old? Were they saying that not marrying made him so mentally unstable, so that starting a riot isn’t strange anymore?! What a leap in logic!
[What was the general consensus of his female cla.s.smates back in Kasik’s days in the military academy? We asked them to find out.]
The report now switched to a recording of an interview with a woman whose eyes were censored away. She had a baby in her arms, giving a distinct contrast to Kasik, who apparently has not yet married. Definitely intended.
[Islamov Kasik… Oh, that stalker?]
[A stalker? How was he in the academy?]
[He was no joke. He was just the biggest loser of the world of losers back in Critik military academy. One time, I p.i.s.sed off the seniors at the academy and they made me send a love letter to Kasik, and… I had to do it and, ugh, I just had the worst time of my life. I would have rather gone back and slapped the seniors’ faces instead.]
[What happened?]
[You see, as if he wasn’t a loser already, right after he got the fake letter from me, he started planning when and where to have dates, how far we can get on the first day, how many times to date per week, where to station to see each other at work, which military culture centre to use when marrying at the end of the third year of work, and when to get buried after death… He had the whole thing planned in a day.]
[Wow, he’s quite a piece of work!]
The screen switched back to the studio. The female reporter was giggling quietly, unable to stop her laughter.
It was a little funny, I had to admit. A high-ranking officer, who even started a rebellion, was a stalker. But he also had the lives of a million people in his hands-- what were they thinking, provoking him?
Following that, personal insults against Kasik continued. There were countless stories, like how he hara.s.sed female soldiers soon after becoming an officer and got an intervention order; how he had the most amount of meetings listed in meetup websites; how he begged the female worker at the matchmaker website to marry him; how he had spent over ten million credits on adult websites. …Not only did they violate his privacy, they beat on it with a bat and spat on it before throwing it away.
Ma.s.s media was truly a thing from h.e.l.l.
At that point, Kasik’s name was completely destroyed. Sure, negotiation was difficult from the Federation’s standpoint, but they really should not have been provoking him while he still had a large number of hostages with him. Was that the Federation’s doing, or the news network going absolutely nuts?
After completely wrecking Kasik, the story further devolved into comedy.
[Next, we will examine Professor William Mayer, who reportedly had been the guiding figure in Kasik’s movement.]
Mayer’s history began listing on the screen. They had no mercy for Mayer, either. They delved into his private life, twisted it around, and showed it to the entire world. This level of violation of privacy was well beyond what was allowed by Federation laws. Yet, despite this horrific disregard for personal life, the viewers of the network and its reporters were casually laughing it off.
“Wow.”
“That’s going too far.”
“I never knew that humans were capable of being this cruel to another human being.”
We all froze in place, stunned by the broadcast-- excluding Admiral Luise, who slept through the news. I thought I’d already seen everything in my century’s worth of life experience, but I was clearly wrong.
And, at that moment--
--*BAM!*
The hotel’s windows turned brown once more, and another part of the city lit up in flames.
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